We visited the Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. in the North Country of New York State last weekend. Sitting at the eastern end of Lake Ontario in the bay that once saw one-half of the US navy located there around two hundred years ago, the brew pub is in one of the prettiest settings around for a glass of real ale. It is also one of the smallest brew pubs I have ever seen. The building set on the waterfront next to a marina is divided into a pub side and a dining side with their DME brewing equipment set up in the front with a view from the pub. There is also a patio on the marina side.

We really didn't take in the full range of the beers offered as we were in the middle of a day long Father's Day upstate road trip with two little kids in tow but that is ofter a good measure of the capability of a pub. It was kid friendly if only because of the active harbour out the window of the dining room - count the boats, kids. While that was going on, I had their stout which I was really pleased with - full of flavour with a bit of chocolate and a bit on minty hops over a clean milky yeast. We also tried a half pint of a cherry wheat which was clean and refreshing with a solid cherry flavour which leaned a bit towards cherry pie as opposed to cherry picked off the tree.

I had had lowish expectations as I had not fallen in love with the brewery's bottling of its 1812 Ale when I tried it a year and a half ago. Not only was that view of their beer dead wrong based on that sample given the two we tasted - but just the food and the view at the pub would make it a destination regardless of the beer. I will have to try their 1812 again.¹ Lew points out that Sackets Harbor has a new brew master, Andy Gersten, who previously had worked at Oswego at King Arthur's reviewed here last month. I liked his last stop, too.

Protestors hope a new beer will boost their campaign against night flights at Nottingham East Midlands Airport. They have launched a beer from Belvoir Brewery called Nightcap to raise awareness of their concerns. New flight paths were introduced at the airport in May after a consultation process, but some residents say noise is still a problem. Steve Charlish says the beer is another way to put forward their concerns in "a serious but simple manner".

This is an example of "contract brewing," a far more common practice than is usually thought. Brewers with excess capacity will take on the brewing and packaging of the beers of others for a fee. In theory, we each could have the beers we want made to our own specifications for sale to ourselves.

Another from the 100 Barrel Series from Harpoon of Boston, this Maibock is a nice malty expression of the bock without a heavy level of hops...and without that nice goat usually found on the label of a bock. The beer pours a nice caramel with a rich thick tan head that leaves an inordinate amount of lacing. Great sweet malt nose becomes greater apply raisiny sweet round malt mouthful with a faint fog of smoke.

Even cold from the fridge there is a strong cutting bitter hop edge with some green but no metallic. Like the Salvator, something of a Scots heavy feel to it, even in the sense that there might be some roast barley there in that bittering edge but without that tell-tale accompanying red tinge to the brew.

Although Calgary is home to the world's largest malting company, Canada Malting, makers of masses of the main ingredient in ales and lagers, it has taken a long time for beer to get some respect in Alberta. Like other areas of Canada 15 to 20 years ago, a very limited selection of beer existed, dominated mostly by the Big Three and local high volume producers, such as the Labatt's brewery in Edmonton, which is still operational. Thankfully, that is the only macro-brewery left in Alberta.

Going back, we find that the local markets were dominated by mammoth breweries such as The Calgary Brewing and Malting Company, above, which was founded in 1892. Then...after a lot of steadily poorer and poorer product...maybe about a century later...the revolution of beer hit the world and Alberta started to sprout up microbreweries and brew pubs. First on the Alberta scene was Calgary's Big Rock Brewery founded in 1984, a now 450,000 hectolitre capacity brewery that some say is no longer a micro, though Big Rock still produces craft beers and seasonals. The success of the brewery was pivotal however in allowing other beer-lovers and brewers in Alberta to see that indeed a small brewery specialising in craft beer could succeed. Thankfully, others followed, and Alberta is now home to a good number of microbreweries and brewpubs. Some include:

Some others noted just five years ago have come and gone, notably Peak Brewing which was in Canmore, but closed years back. Though some of these micros have been around for 10 or 15 years, it seems only now that Albertans are starting to appreciate craft beer on a larger basis, and the market is reflecting this, as looking at some of the better stocked liquor stores will evidence. Niche craft beers and rare imports are now making an appearance, and people are drinking locally though, of course, on a larger scale swill beer is still flying high with sales. The niche market of good beer drinkers is expanding, however, and this year heralded two beers events worthy of notice in Calgary. One was the Calgary Beerfest 2005, the other being the CAMRA Calgary Real Ale Festival, held at Brew Brothers Brewpub, but more on that in another posting.

Well, I did not sit down to write a small history of brewing in Calgary, but that is kind of what it became. Of course, for every step forward for beer in Alberta, it seems we take a half step back, such as local chains of liquor stores that expand and eat up privately owned ones, and stocking very little selection. I give you as exhibit A Willow Park Liquor Stores. Though the main Calgary-based company store has probably Alberta's biggest and best selection of beers, their linked stores across Alberta unfortunately seem to cater to mass-market brews.

However, and to sum it all up for now, Alberta is getting better, and a beer lover can now find a large selection of local and imported artisanal beers here. Though not as rich as British Columbia brewery-wise, which can boast 50 or more breweries and brewpubs, Alberta, as of 2005, has never had so much beer choice. I only hope it keeps getting better.

People email me. They ask if they can post something to the beer blog. I generally say "Sure!" and then I never hear from them again. I was really looking forward to that Italian writer who knew all the Czech beers. If he is reading this - WHAT'S TAKING YOU?!?

Anyway, kind correspondent Gary in New Hampshire wrote this and sent a photo...

The Woodstock Inn is about 80 miles north of my home is southern New Hampshire, and I had not heard of it. I havn't heard of many things, it is true, but I am glad my store had Woodstock Brewery Pig's Ear Brown Ale. What luck! What a treat! They have been brewing for awhile apparently and, as you can see from their website, there is quite a lot going on up there. Anyway, I have never seen these offerings at the grocery store before, and I am glad they are apparently breaking into the mainstream. Harpoon and Shipyard are larger microbrews, and average about 6 bucks a six-pack, this was 7 bucks for a six-pack.

My problem as a reviewer is that I like many many beers, except for the type that rhymes with 'Sudsweiser' or 'Swiller'. That said, this brown ale is reminds me of one of my favorite beers, Newcastle Brown Ale, and I like it much better than Portsmouth Brewery's Smuttynose Brown Dog. I love it when flavors are strong in beers, hotsauces, etc, and this is not a strong
tasting beer like, if memory serves, Samuel Smith's. It is a perfect, mellow brown ale. Looking at the website, the company has stronger offerings, like stout, so mellow brown is perfect considering the other
possibilities.

The brewery is located at a restaurant and Inn, which suggests a remarkable opportunity for a week of staying, eating, tasting! Beer lover's paradise, perhaps.

Interesting observations, Gary, especially about the Newcastle and other browns. There are three general sorts of English-speaking world brown ales which make something of a range into which you get to consider dropping any new brown you meet someplace or another:

"Such a rich history of the brewing industry is here and we ought to be exploiting that if we can," said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, whose district was the home of original Schaeffer brewery and currently hosts the Brooklyn Brewery, a regionally well-known outfit. "I can't think of any other state except Wisconsin that has as much brewing tradition as New York. It's part of our heritage."

When the Finger Lakes Wine Region finally sought out professional advice and started using that advice to market the area, that area experienced tremendous growth in tourism. If the state and
participating microbreweries market the trail correctly, a Beer Trail would not only make many of us beer aficionados very happy, it could help draw more people to the state. Something cash-strapped New York
could definitely use.

Right now I'm envisioning pretzel and mustard weekends at microbreweries as the answer to winery's wine and cheese events. Or to go along with the wine region's other big themed weekend: a "Hoppy" Holiday weekends where you collect microbrew beer labels enclosed in glass as ornaments.

I have never been to one of these things, the CAMRA-esque bung-poppers but if you are in the Vancouver Area in early August it might be worth a visit:

British Columbia is bursting at the seams with great locally-made beer, and
we would like to invite beer fans to explore the newest & best of B.C. beer at Caskival, Western Canada's festival dedicated entirely to Real Ale! CAMRA Vancouver and DIX Barbecue & Brewery are proud to present our second annual celebration of brewing at DIX, Vancouver's headquarters for the art & science of great brewing. From noon until 5:00 on Saturday, August 6th, Caskival brings together some of B.C.'s best small breweries to showcase this traditional technique of beer service at 871 Beatty Street in Vancouver, 604-682-2739. Almost two dozen cask ales will be featured, with a wide range of styles and flavors sure to meet the tastes of even the most demanding beer fans...For more information, contact
Brewmaster Tony Dewald by phone at 604-682-2739 or e-mail at dix at markjamesgroup.com. Attendance is limited to 250 guests, so call soon for tickets!

Alan is apparently a Gen X-er who has hit 40... err...44... err... 45... YIKES... 46 ... [ZOW-WEE!!] 48... jessh, now 51... and edits and writes about other stuff at his personal website Gen X at 40. Please email Alan or any of the authors at this blog's gmail account - please write if you want to join the ranks of authors of this site or just want to send in a story on your favorite beer or photo of your regular pub.

I have moved the content of the OCB Commentary Wiki here. It is now a static document and pretty much is locked in as understandings existed as of 2012. Probably needs its own wiki to update the content! Below are the original introductory remarks:

"The purpose of this wiki is to collectively make comments, add annotation, identify errata and suggest further sources to the text of The Oxford Companion to Beer. Members are asked to avoid comment about the authors, the structure of the text or other extraneous matters. This wiki is a not for profit project that reviews the text pursuant to the concept of "fair dealing for the purpose of criticism or review" under Canadian copyright law." Alan McLeod, wiki Organizer, and chief bottle washer at A Good Beer Blog. Motto? "Many hands make pleasant work." Alan McLeod, 25 October 2011. Please provide some information about yourself when making a request to join the wiki. Anonymous requests for membership will not be approved. Overly ardent and rudely put claims to authority will be cause for removal from the membership. As of 11 January 2012, 134 entries or 12.2% of the total of 1,100 received commentary, many with multiple comments. Eight of the photos have been corrected as well. That number rose to 151 by 13 May 2012.